my first holiday in Bangkok/Thailand changing my $5.000 Cam against the Samsung Galaxy S8+ (and I didn't regret it) - Day 1

Hi, first of all, I 'd like to introduce myself. My name is Alex and I love photography and travelling aroud the world. I have not been using social-media until this day. The reason why I started here on steemit.com is, because I think it is a great concept and I wanted to be part of this amazing community and help to make it more interesting and grow bigger. So this is my first post and experience. I hope you will enjoy it.

This first part is the documentation of day 1 of our trip to Thailand, starting in Bangkok. From there we travelled further to Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Koh Tao and back to Bangkok.

Usually on vacation, I take my Canon 5D Mark III and my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens wherever I go. But it was so hot, that I simply decided to make a new project - exploring Thailand with my Galaxy S8+. Surely I made also pictures with my DSLR, but most of the time I took my Smartphone. It has nearly no weight, just the right thing when it's so hot that every simple step makes you more sweaty. I also took a drone, the Yuneek 500 4k with me and used it from time to time. But I will make posts about my experience, with all three cameras later.

So, starting from Bangkok Airport, my girlfriend Diana and me arrived in freaking Bangkok without having a hotel or have planned anything except the flight.

So we arrived at 6am in BKK and were totally tired. We just wanted to have a warm shower and a bed. Talking to the people at the airport, we found out that we couldn't immigrate without having a hotel! It seemed like we had a little problem, but thanks to the internet. Free wi-fi at the airport made it possible to google the only hotel me and (surely) everybody knows from Hang-Over - the Lebua Hotel (http://www.lebua.com/state-tower).

That's Thailand - no problem without a solution. Our holidays just right started from there!

When we checked in, they recognized that two days later it would be my birthday, so they upgraded us for free! When we opened our room and checked the view from our balcony at the 54th floor!

So if you don't know where to start in Bangkok - go to the Lebua! Only $100 for two persons a night, we discovered what is real luxery for an affordable amount!

We where totally overwhalmed of our view from the balcony. Check this:

After a fresh shower and some sleep, we went out to discover this crazy town.

We took a tuk-tuk to the MBK, one of the biggest malls in Thailand exploring the hundreds of different shops within the MBK and great, really fresh and delicious food.

a shop in the photography floor (yes, they have a whole floor only for DSLR and accessories!)

and they even have a dental doctor at the MBK

but the best are the food corners from different countries inside the MBK:

and the street-food-corners in front of it:


some tasty eggs with vegetables and a mixed vinegar-honey-sauce with chilli and cucumber

ice-cream in a coconut-cup

After a few hours of shopping, we went back to our hotel taking the Sky-Train, which is cheep, fast and air-conditioned.

On our way we spotted the maybe smallest McDonalds on the earth =)

Sky-Train in front of the MBK

Arriving at the train-station it, was only a few hundred metres to walk to the Lebua.

After a long day, luckily we arrived at our hotel, before a big thunderstorm broke loose

At the end of day 1, we could enjoy the view over Bangkok at night from our balcony, before we fell asleep like little babies:

Thank you, and expect for day 2!

Yours faithfully,

Alex